Am I in trouble?

[Bryce]

Hi its me yet again with another problem.

Blew the coolant cap off on sat and have replaced the the tank today as threads were stripped when I bought it.

The tank I have removed has a lot of what looks like sand in the bottom ran a magnet over it hoping it wasn't metal but it seems to have picked up most it.

I'm assuming this is not good news ha. Any ideas on cause or how best to try and fix?

[Da dan]

Have you still the rubber hose under the van that is to the rad? If so it’s got metal inserts to keep it in place when clamped. They can rot after all this time. If so change to stainless pipes as only time before they blow off and will loose all coolant and be in trouble.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bryce]

Thanks. So that might be what the metal is? Will have a look tomorrow.

[davidoft1]

There’s plenty of steel parts in the engine that could cause a little bit of grit like that , I don’t think it’s much to be concerned over

[Bryce]

Cheers. Just know it's a big red flag to have stuff in the oil so thought it might be the same with coolant.

Guy I bought it off said he can't remember the last time he changed oil so think the coolant might be a bit past its sell by date as well

[Robsey]

Also consider stuff like old steel pipes used to join the hoses near the radiator and matrix.

And there are the radiator and matrix themselves.
All can corrode over time giving off metal particles.

I think I would recommend a complete thorough fluid service.
Fuel lines, filter and tank
Coolant and cooling system
Oil and filters
Brake fluid etc.

Your van might not know what is going on if it got pampered after the apparent neglect.

[Bryce]

I have changed oil and filters, new coolant tank and temp gauge and fitted the missing expansion tank!
It has a really good history of paperwork up until the last owner but taking it to a specialist next week to set the engine timing as will only run/start with cold lever pulled and is throwing out black smoke on start up.

Guess that's the price of owning a beautiful brick!